The Online Slots Craze in Canadian Casinos

The slot machine is one of the biggest and most accessible parts of casino online culture. With playing as easy as deciding how much to gamble and pressing a button, a growing number of people are playing online casino slots due to their sheer ease of access.

The excitement of playing makes online slots the favourite choice of many gamblers worldwide, including Canada. In order to start winning big at slots, or even just enjoying them, it's probably a good idea to get to know all you can about them. On this page, you can expect to learn:

How the game of slots was invented and when the first slot machine came about

What makes slots one of the most popular casino online games across the world

The original slot machine was invented in 1891 by Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York and contained five drums to give the player a hand akin to poker. There was no direct payout as there is now. Winners back then were more likely to receive drinks or cigars than real cash in hand.

In 1895, Charles Fey of San Francisco developed a much simpler machine with only 3 spinning reels consisting of five symbols - horseshoes, diamonds, hearts, spades and a liberty bell. By changing the win structure from poker hands to symbols, the complexity of winning was reduced and an automated payout structure was introduced. This made the machines easier to maintain and introduce to a growing market.

Slots At A Glance

The gaming industry is always striving to find new and innovative ways to engage players and an effective way of doing so has been through exciting casino games such as slots. Most have 3 to 5 reels and can come with anywhere from 1 to more than 100 paylines. From different super heroes to various fruits and from animals to beach themed items, these online casino slots can have all kinds of icons on the reels. Here are some common features that you'll come across when playing any type of real money slots.

Slots are played by matching a variety of symbols on spinning reels

Most games have more than one way of winning

There is a variety of slot machines from simple reel machines to more complex video machines

Many machines will offer free spins as a reward, giving a player an extra attempt to win big!

Discover Your Favourite Variations

Players constantly want new ways to be enthralled and when they are given the same types of games repeatedly, it's no surprise that they're bound to get bored. That's why the gaming industry has tried its best to create an awesome variety of slot machines so that players never get bored of taking a spin. To cater to player demand, there are four major types of slots - classic slots, video slots, mega spin slots, and progressive slots.

Classic Slots

Classic slots are characterized as 3 reel slots that are different from video slots due to the amount of reels they have, their themes, and the number of paylines. Most classic slots are referred to as fruit machines because they come with various fruit symbols. They typically have fewer complex features such as bonus rounds and these slots are known to provide more payouts to players, but the winnings are usually smaller. Reel and video machines differ in the way the payout is calculated. Reel machines are more simplistic than video machines, but still have complicated internal mechanics that allow multiple drums with anywhere between 10 and 32 symbols. Each symbol is referred to as a stop, and matching stops correctly unlocks the prize for the player. Reel machines also have less complicated payouts.

Video Slots

Video slots allow players to win according to their bets whereas with reel machines, the maximum jackpot can only be won by playing the maximum bet. Video machines, in contrast, have no limit to the number of stops. This can affect the odds and the payouts for players. While additional stops can increase the difficulty to win, they also increase the amount that can be won. These machines have become more prevalent in the world today than the classic reel machine. There are many different types of video machine slots in the casino online world. There are simple one-line machines and multi-line machines, which offer more than one way of winning. The more lines you bet on, the higher your probability of winning during each spin. Multi-line machines are now widely used in the majority of the casino world.

Mega Spin Slots

Mega spin slots have pushed slot gaming to another level. When players are bored of playing on just one slot machine, they can opt to play up to nine games in one go. Typically players can make the choice of playing on anywhere from three to nine slots at the same time. Once you decide the amount of coins you want to play and how many slots to play them on, you simply click on the spin button and watch every slot start spinning simultaneously. This can be up to 45 reels working their magic, all at once. Of course, needless to say that if you win on a mega spin slot, your payouts can be significantly larger compared to playing on a simple 3-reel of 5-reel slot. Keep in mind that each mega spin slot comes with its own payout table, so take a look at that before you start spinning.

Progressive Slots

Not all that different from standard slots, progressive slots are another great option for players looking for gaming excitement. Progressive slots are typically linked to other machines within a casino or a network. Sometimes the network can span across different machines in various casino online sites. When a bet is placed on this machine, a percentage is taken from that bet and is added to the pool of money. This pool is known as the progressive jackpot total. Every machine on the network pitches in to this pool and it keeps growing as more people keep playing. Once the lucky player spins the winning combination, the collective jackpot is paid out to them. This of course, can be a considerable sum since it accumulates from anywhere between dozens and hundreds of slot machines.

Winning It Big - Progressive Jackpots

It didn't take long for progressive jackpots to take the gambling world by storm. Most games limit the amount a player can win - but with progressive jackpots, the amount that can be won increases each time a player has a go. This means there is a cumulative prize that continues to build as people continue to play! Progressive jackpots are the way to hit it big and take down the house. There are three types of progressive jackpots - standalone, locals, and wide area progressives.

Standalones were the original progressive jackpots and will usually have jackpots of under $10,000. Standalones have jackpots affixed only to their respective machines.

Local progressives are more common and are linked with other machines. There could be a handful of machines or hundreds of machines linked together in a local progressive network.

Wide Area network progressives tie together slots over large areas and combine different casinos together. The Wide Area progressives offer the largest winnings worth tens of millions of dollars for players.

Betting Limits A Player Should Know About

With the advent of 21st century technology, modern slot machines and online slots use microprocessors to determine the probability of each spin and symbol.

Most online slots will limit the amount a player can spend per line or how many lines can be played. While these betting limits can be as low as a cent per line, they can also go as high as twenty Canadian Dollars per line. However, there are also machines that allow players to wager even more. People that are looking to win big play these high limit slots.

While the player may be spending more, they are also likely to win substantially more Canadian Dollars. Additionally, higher limit machines generally pay out more often as online casinos in Canada have an incentive to entice high rolling players. High rollers spend more real money, so casinos want them to come back to play more frequently.

Pro Tips for New & Seasoned Players

Machines don't ever run hot or cold. Each spin is randomized so that it has the same percentage of winning or losing on the next spin.

Prior to playing at any Canadian slots online casino, figure out what your bankroll is for the session. This will make sure that you know exactly how much you have and how much you want to spend on the session.

The next time you're picking a slots online casino, go beyond checking its reputation. Keep an eye on what its payout odds are on slots and compare them with other casino online sites in Canada.

Playing Pokies At Your Favourite Gambling Site

Armed with all this information and knowledge, you can now play casino online slots at quality gambling destinations. For a few words of advice, we suggest that you always check the rules before you play as some jackpots and bonuses require you to place a minimum amount of Canadian Dollars. Since slots are among the most popular casino online games, it's no surprise that almost every casino website out there has them.

That's why it's important to keep in mind that you should always play at accredited online casinos that have been licensed and certified by international and local Canadian authorities. That way, you know you're getting your money's worth and can play in a safe gambling environment. Feel free to browse through CasinoOnline.ca's extensive online slots list to find the best of the lot in Canada.